VHA confirms plans to kill off 3 brand

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 04 May 2010 15:26

IT Industry - Strategy

VHA has confirmed that it will eventually kill off the former Hutchison Telecom '3' brand and trade only as Vodafone, but has given no time frame.

Addressing the company's AGM, CEO Nigel Dews, said: "We have previously outlined our intention to move towards one brand, the Vodafone brand, as our long term brand. This year we will be taking some steps towards this goal, including selling both brands in many of our exclusive distribution channels and beginning to reposition the Vodafone brand."

However as iTWire reported at the time, the company's initial post merger statements were rather ambivalent. It said in the merger announcement that: "VHA will continue to market products and services under the Vodafone and 3 brands and all respective network arrangements, caps and plans, retail outlets and customer service capabilities will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future."

The first indications that the 3 brand would be abandoned came from Vodafone Group in its Q1 results announcement last August when it said "[VHA]...in due course, will market its products and services solely under the Vodafone brand."

Other comments by Dews also suggest that the 3 brand won't be disappearing anytime soon. He said: "It is very important for us to build on the strengths of 3's success in leading delivery of mobile internet services in Australia." This could be quite challenging if the company is planning to kill off the goose that lays these golden eggs.

Dews said integration of the two companies remained a key operational focus. "While we are progressing well on delivering a suite of consolidation and integration projects, we will continue to devote considerable resource to delivering our three-year integration plan and achieving our targeted cost-savings, as we move towards delivering a simpler and more consistent experience for our customers."

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